3 Ameraucanas?

[Darci]

Are these three beauties all Ameraucanas?
I ordered an unsexed mixed package from the local hatchery and am not 100% if these 3 are the same breed.
Also pullets or cockerels?
Chicken 1

Chicken 2

Chicken 3

All are 12 weeks old.

 

[Sunshine0235]

Those are easter eggers, most hatcheries call them ameraucanas.

Bird 1 is a pullet
Birds 2 and 3 are roosters

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Easter Egger pullet
Easter Egger cockerel
Easter Egger cockerel

The reason they don't look like the same "breed" is that they are actually a mixed breed bird and this results in a wide variety of colors, patterns, etc

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Which hatchery did you order from? Almost all of them do say they are not selling pure Ameraucana if you know how to read between the lines of their breed description - which only makes what they are doing that much more despicable in my opinion.

 

[Darci]

I order from a hatchery here in Alberta called Rochester. There aren't many options close to home for ordering chicks.
What is it you look for to differ sex in this breed?

 

[Sunshine0235]

Males are generally more colorful and patchy colors. The second bird has red patches on the wing, so its a rooster, and the third is patchy coloring and most black and white ones are males.

The first is a typical pullet coloring for EE.

 

[Michael OShay]

Easter Egger pullet
Easter Egger cockerel
Easter Egger cockerel

The reason they don't look like the same "breed" is that they are actually a mixed breed bird and this results in a wide variety of colors, patterns, etc

They are definitely Easter Eggers, not true Ameraucanas (the greenish legs and blotchy colors are a dead giveaway), and I agree with Ol Grey Mare on the gender (1 hen and 2 cockerels).

 

[Darci]

Thank you
After everyone's help I figure I have 10 roosters out of my package or 12 chickens I ordered this year. Not such good luck. Next has to be mostly hens...right?

 

[Michael OShay]

Thank you
After everyone's help I figure I have 10 roosters out of my package or 12 chickens I ordered this year. Not such good luck. Next has to be mostly hens...right?

I'm sorry that happened. This is why for the past 2 to 3 decades, I have ordered on pullets, not straight run. I've always ordered in batches of 25 pullets, and even then (except with sex links), I usually get a couple of cockerels.

 

[Darci]

I would do the same but there is no option of buying these breeds sexed. I will try ordering a larger number next spring. They say they have a 48% pullet rate in groups of 25+